Early China Series: Digital Mawangdui
From The Observatory
Date
November 7, 2025
Location
Faculty House, Columbia University
Area
Add to a calendar
“Digital Mawangdui: Visualizing the Art of Transformation through Scientific Imaging and Multimedia Storytelling”
This talk explores how cutting-edge imaging technologies and immersive media are transforming our understanding of the Han dynasty Mawangdui tombs. Drawing from CAMLab’s interdisciplinary research and the recent publication Cosmic Cycle of Life 生命时空, the project Digital Mawangdui reinterprets the material, cosmological, and spiritual dimensions of Mawangdui through a multisensory lens. From XRF pigment mapping to high-resolution textile reconstruction, from 3D visualization of funerary objects to AI-driven interactive storytelling, the project reveals the dynamic processes of hua (化)—transformation—that define Han concepts of life, death, and the cosmos.Agenda
This talk presents the development of a digital platform and immersive exhibition that reimagines the tomb not as a static burial site, but as a generative space where philosophical imagination, alchemical knowledge, and sensory experience converge. By bridging scientific analysis with artistic expression, Digital Mawangdui offers a new model for multimedia storytelling in cultural heritage interpretation.
Key Speaker: Chenchen Lü
Participants
Tang Canter for Early China
Organizer, Host | Homepage
The Tang Center for Early China is dedicated to the advancement of the understanding of the richness and importance of early Chinese civilization as a part of a broader common human heritage. It is committed to doing so through both solid scholarship and broad public outreach.
